SEO, AEO, GEO: what's the actual difference?

SEO wins you a ranking on a list of links. AEO wins you a place inside the answer an AI gives. GEO is the narrower craft of getting your brand cited in that answer: it lives inside AEO. Same customer, three different games.

The acronyms are multiplying, and the trade press adds a new one every month. But under the noise there are really only three that matter, and the difference between them is not pedantic. They name different games, played for different prizes.

SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is the discipline of the last twenty years. You optimise for a ranking algorithm, using keywords, links, and technical structure, and you win a position on a list of links. Success is traffic and clicks. The prize is a place on the page.

AEO, Answer Engine Optimization, is the discipline of this era. You optimise for a model that reads, interprets, and decides, rather than an algorithm that sorts. You win a place inside the answer itself: the recommendation the AI gives when someone asks what to buy. Success is measured in mentions, citations, and recommendations. The prize is being named.

GEO, Generative Engine Optimization, is the close cousin, and the two are often used interchangeably. Where a line is drawn, GEO is the narrower craft: getting your brand cited and woven into the text a generative model produces. The term comes from a 2023 research paper and has stuck. Think of GEO as the citation layer, one important part of AEO, not a rival to it.

You will meet others: AIO, LLMO, “LLM SEO,” GXO. Most circle the same idea from a different vendor’s angle. The labels will keep multiplying. The shift underneath them will not.

Here is the simplest way to hold it. SEO is the old game. AEO is the new one. GEO is a move inside the new one. If you only remember one word, make it AEO, because it names the thing you actually want, which is not to be optimised for an engine, but to be the answer.